The fourth edition of the World Minds Sports Games in Beijing, China on December 11th-17th. This unique tournament featured five sports including bridge, go, draughts, xiangqi (Chinese chess) and international chess. Top players in each of these mind sports competed in various formats. This is the second time that chess will feature a variant known as “Basque Chess” which entails two players playing an opponent two games with opposite colors simultaneously. Rapid and Blitz are the mainstays and will be contested by 16 of the world’s top players in both the men’s and women’s categories.

The delegations of the five mind sports being introduced. Hou Yifan is the official chess ambassador.Photo by sportaccord2014.fide.com.

While Magnus Carlsen is the reigning Classical, Rapid and Blitz champion, there are several former World Champions (time category) including Levon Aronian of Armenia, Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. All of the top brass for the women are competing with Hou Yifan of China and Humpy Koneru of India leading the pack. Also strong competition from Valentina Guinana and Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, Ju Wenjun of China, Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and Anna Muzychuk of the Ukraine. China has become the marquee location for these large-scale international events since the scintillating display at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Valentina Gunina (RUS) and Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) took to the board to face off for the first place spot. Black prevailed and Dzagnidze came out on top. However, let us not forget that local talent, Hou Yifan trails closely behind by half a point.

GM Wang Yue, defending WMSG rapid champion. Photos by SportAccord.

The unfortunate Koneru Humpy (IND), the highest rated woman player got off to a bad start with three zeroes, but managed to wrap up the day with a win over Mariya Muzychuk from Ukraine.

Wang Hao and Wang Yue opened day 1 in confidence. Perhaps the home court advantage helped, both men were at the top of their form. White played out to be beneficial as Wang Hao now sits at the top of the leaderboard in the men’s rapid.

The first day had some great matches, including one between Pentala Harikrishna (IND) and the ever-original Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR). Too early for predictions, but time will tell which players have what it takes to claim the gold.

An epic contest took place at the chess tables this afternoon, a pure treat for spectators and viewers across the world. A young lady from Russia brought her A-game to Beijing. Valentina Gunina (RUS), 25 years old, showed us how talented she really is, winning all her games of the second day of competition.

The local favourite, Hou Yifan (CHN) was her challenger in round 6. The match was intense, gripping and one to watch. The two ladies knew that this was a decisive one to win. Gunina felt ”lucky but happy” and shared that she always “loves to play Hou Yifan”. Having played chess since the age of 5, her father was always there to coach her and encourage her to along the way. Now Gunina awaits the Blitz competition, “it is definitely my favourite discipline” she explained with a delightful smile.

Today’s men’s competition was slightly more confusing. With a quick draw in round 6 and a loss in round 7 to Levon Aronian (ARM), Wang Hao (CHN) secured the bronze. Yesterday’s successful start proved more difficult to continue throughout today’s matchups.

Alexander Grishchuk (RUS) claims the gold, while his opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) agreed to a draw, leaving him out of contention for a medal. The Rapid tournament comes to a close, as the Russia flag soars above the rest.

As we put a close to the rapid format yesterday evening, today’s chess competitions at the World Mind Games 2014 reset the clocks to 3 minutes and counting. With 30 seconds left before the start of the games, Aronian and Grischuk came running in, blitz action was ready to start.

Earlier this morning, Hou Yifan and Dominguez awoke for a head-to-head in front of the iconic bird’s nest. One might say that an early wake could be a disadvantage for a chess player, yet Hou Yifan proves the contrary. The lovely young lady, an exemplary role model for young players was more than happy to enjoy a great game of her favourite mind sport.

Hou Yifan puts blitz skills on display and lead after day one.

She currently leads the blitz table with 7 out of 10, but nothing is set in stone as Gunina trails closely behind with 6.5. Let us not forget Muzychuk, the world’s highest rated blitz player who has yet to say her final words. Interestingly, Hou Yifan and Gunina faced off in round 10 and this time, Hou Yifan took the point.

Three men lead as the rest are lurking behind. Ivanchuk, Aronian and Leko claimed 7 out of 10 this afternoon. All, hungry for medals and are determined to step up on the podium. Nepomniatchi however, famous for his blitz skills, seemed distraught, he walked up and down the isle of the chess halls, clearly disappointed with his results.

With 20 rounds to be played, competition remains open. Tomorrow will be decisive for all players to set themselves apart.

After Day2 of Blitz, we have two clear leaders who succeeded doing so: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, having one point extra on the ranking list, closely followed by Grischuk and Ivanchuk, both with 13/20, and in the women section, Hou Yifan is dominating the pack, enjoying the 1.5 point lead, currently being on 15.5/20.

At the SportAccord World Mind Games 2014, blitz chess requires an extremely fast-paced end game. When the time clock approaches the 0 second mark, a player must react to avoid losing the game on time. Today, Ivanchuk forgot that.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave leads on 14/20!Photo by Alina L’Ami.

Ahead for the most of the afternoon, and playing in an advantageous position against his opponent Vachier-Lagrave (one of the highest ranked blitz players), the clock read 0:00 and the arbitrator called the end of the match. Ivanchuk, deep in his thoughts and foreseeing his next moves, had not realised his time was up.

Vachier-Lagrave now sits in first with 14 out of 20 points. He showed great skill today but nothing can tell who will take the medals.

It seems at this year’s World Mind Games, Hou Yifan and Valentina Gunina have declared battle. The two ladies are here to win and nothing or no one seems to be stopping them.

Hou Yifan currently leads the board with 15.5 out of 20 while Gunina sits 1.5 points behind. It appears that the cold Beijing weather plays a purpose in this tournament, as we watch Yifan quickly jog to the entrance to grab a breath of “fresh” air in between rounds. Something to consider should your chess play be disappointing you.

A certain Alexander Grischuk will not be stopped. First rapids now blitz, Grischuk is on fire at this tournament. Does he have what it takes to conquer the basque tournament?

As Ivanchuk continued down a slippery slope, Vachier-Lagrave was the man to watch. Both him and Grischuk were neck and neck. As the rounds progressed and reached the final stretch, one prevailed. Unfortunately, Vachier-Lagrave lost his concentration, finishing with a loss and a draw. Grischuk stood firm and played his final games carefully to go on and win his second gold medal at the World Mind Games. Great news for Radjabov from Azerbaijan who comes back to win a bronze medal after two years without promising results.

It goes without say that in the women’s event; Hou Yifan is the player to beat. Her play is astoundingly good and her winning streak unmatchable. This time around she beats Gunina with 22.5 out of 30. When asked about the blitz event, she calmly said “there are so many different positions and you always need time to recover”. Pia Cramling came out in the last round and put in an impeccable performance to beat Muzychuk, who loses out on grabbing silver.

Mariya Muzychuk trying to get a rhythm on wheels. Photo by Alina L’Ami.

Who would have ever thought that such a “static” board game like chess, will be in crying need for very “dynamic” players (literally)?! But chess and sport are not poles apart, not when it comes to the Basque system anyway, the third and final competition on the SportAccord World Mind Games’ agenda. After Day1, we have two clear leaders, both with half a point more than the runner-ups: Ian Nepomniachtchi (4.5/6) and Zhao Xue (5.5/6).

This is a unique way of practicing our favourite sport, which eliminates the advantage of the White colour and the “boring” moments when the opponent sinks into deep thought. Play takes place at two boards simultaneously with each player having one White and one Black. The time rate is 20 minutes plus an increment of 10 seconds per move, but the real amount of time is shorter, since one has to permanently “navigate” with his chair (and his mind) from one game to the other. It is important to make the forced moves without hesitating, but how to do that when you are caught up in analyzing a critical situation of the other game? For players – quite a demanding competition, but what an entertaining show for the spectators…

The celebrations of the Russians marked the close of the 4th edition of the World Mind Games 2014, organised in Beijing, China from December 11-17, 2014. The final competition of this year’s event ended with Ian Nepomnianchtchi (Russia) and Hou Yifan (China) being crowned the winners in the men’s and women’s chess basque competitions. With the final medals being awarded, the Russians emerged as the big winners in the whole competition as their players took home a total of 6 gold and 5 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

Jean-Marc N’Djofang won gold in the super-blitz in draughts. Here he poses with 7-time World Champion Aleksandr Georgiev who he will play next year for the classical draughts world championship.

Announcing the closing of the World Mind Games 2014, SportAccord Director General Vlad Marinescu said, “In terms of scale, competition, organisation and broadcasting, this edition of the World Mind Games has set the benchmark for all future editions of the same, and even other SportAccord multi-sports games. We congratulate the athletes for their success, the international federations for their contributions and the local organising committee for their untiring efforts in ensuring the event’s conduct. We also thank the sponsors for providing their valuable support for the World Mind Games 2014. The venue became a big melting pot for all elements that contribute towards a successful event. The cultural programme touched over 2000 children, through the activities of our sporting ambassadors.

Finally, we give a big vote of thanks to the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, the Board and Card Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China and the people of Beijing people for welcoming us with open arms and making this the home of the World Mind Games for the last 4 years.”

In total, there were 150 players from 37 countries, who took part in the World Mind Games 2014. There were 14 disciplines across 5 sports on offer, with 24 medal rounds being contested.